1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of providing electrical power to the devices in a computing cluster, and more particularly relates to methods of sequencing the power up of devices in a cluster or data center.
2. Background of the Related Art
High performance computing clusters contain a large number of server nodes, network switches, and data storage devices. There are times when the entire cluster of such information technology equipment needs to be powered-off for service. When these cluster entities are powered back on, there is a large inrush of electrical current from the main power distribution center. This inrush current can trip a circuit breaker at the main distribution center or it can trip a circuit breaker at the individual power distribution units (PDUs) that are positioned within the individual racks of the cluster. A common way to limit the inrush of electrical current is to add inductors to the input of each power supply so that the resistor-inductor-capacitor (R-L-C) circuit slowly ramps up the current supplied to the design.
Another embodiment of the invention provides a computer program product including computer usable program code embodied on a tangible computer usable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer usable program code for identifying a plurality of power distribution units disposed in a rack, wherein each power distribution units is connected to receive power from a main power source, and wherein each power distribution unit includes a circuit breaker; computer usable program code for identifying a plurality of devices disposed in the rack, wherein each device is connected to receive power from one of the power distribution units, and wherein the plurality of devices are selected from server nodes, network switches and external data storage devices; and computer usable program code for powering on, for each of the power distribution units, the plurality of devices that are connected to the power distribution unit in a sequence to prevent an inrush current from tripping the circuit breaker within the power distribution unit, wherein the sequence powers on the devices identified as network switches and external data storage devices prior to powering on the devices identified as server nodes.